How Will Phil Coulson Come Back From The Dead In Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.?

Just letting you know — if you haven’t seen The Avengers, don’t read on. If you don’t want to know anything about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. until it starts airing on ABC, don’t read on. In fact, if you have a ZERO SPOILER POLICY, you might want to stop reading right about now. You have been warned.

Agent Phil Coulson, despite being an original character, played a key role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe until The Avengers, in which he was impaled by Loki’s spear and subsequently died from his injuries. Nevertheless, we’re talking about the Marvel Universe — characters die and come back from the dead in said universe more often than they’re seen using the restroom, therefore news of Agent Coulson being brought back for the ABC pilot Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. came as no surprise. Fans quickly began speculating on how he would survive Loki’s attack — lucky for them, a source revealed to /Film a major plot point that provides a brief explanation.

According to the source, it was Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) who decided to fake Coulson’s death in order to give Captain America, Iron Man and Thor an extra push to become a team. It will also be revealed that other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, possibly including Maria Hill (played by Cobie Smulders, who signed a seven-film contract), knew about this all along. After the battle of New York, Fury moved Coulson to a remote location until things cooled down. Phil’s obviously back with the agency at the time of the show.

We think it’s kind of a cop-out, though it will be interesting to see how Coulson’s death was staged — how does one fake a stabbing? Even Thor was fooled into thinking the agent had been killed, which makes the deed even more impressive.

What do you think? Would you rather see Coulson come back as a zombie in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Wishful thinking, guys. Wishful thinking.